February 28 will bring Atlus’ turn-based cyberpunk RPG Soul Hackers 2 coming to the service for console, PC, and cloud, while Magic Cube’s fantasy puzzle adventure game Merge and Blade will also be added on the same day.

While those will be the final additions of the month, the early days of March will bring a couple of major new titles as well, with Codemasters and EA’s racing sim F1 22 arriving on March 2, following by Team Ninja’s highly anticipated Souslike action RPG Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty launching the next day, on March 3.

For those who want more substantial content, the Shanghai International Circuit has also been added and is the second free track after Portimao went live last month. A special event celebrating the Chinese Moon Festival is also coming with “A Bright Start to F1,” which sees Alfa Romeo guiding Zhou Guanyu to his best finish in Formula 1.

The event is available from September 12th to 25th, and those who finish seventh or above in the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix will receive a customizable Kohaku Koi car livery. Stay tuned for more details when the event goes live next week.

F1 22 is available for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, and PC. Check out our official review here.

Social Race and Two-Player Career modes are playable during these periods. Senior creative director Lee Mather stated, “Cross-play brings all our players together and allows them to settle the score of who is the best driver across all platforms. Cross-play also allows us to create better matchmaking opportunities so players can compete against rival racers with similar attributes.”

Along with matchmaking, one can create a session and use the “Invite Friends” option to invite players on other platforms. The “Invites and Requests” option can also be used when pausing during races to accept requests. Of course, an option to disable cross-platform play and only allow matchmaking with players on the same family of consoles is also available.

For more details on F1 22, check out our official review here. It recently received a new track, Portimao, along with bug fixes and other improvements. Check out the full patch notes here.

Unfortunately, however, it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. Speaking recently with UploadVR, F1 22’s senior producer David Williams said that Codemasters has “no plans for a PSVR2 version at the moment”, before adding that the developer will nonetheless “continue to look at all opportunities” going forward. That, of course, aligns with what senior creative director Lee Mather told GamingBolt earlier this year.

F1 22 is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Patch 1.07 recently went live for the game, bringing the new Portimao Circuit, along with various other improvements- read more on that through here.

In addition to Portimao, Patch 1.07 brings other improvements to the table. The throttle application response time has seen some refinements while Front Damage should affect handling and lap times much more. Practice Programmes have received some difficulty balancing and Supercar interiors should now have the correct level of detail in the cockpit camera.

Improvements to general stability and minor fixes have also been made. The developer noted an issue with regards to the AI’s speed gains on straights. The throttle application changes should provide some benefits but in the meantime, it’s working on parity between the AI and the player’s car performance.

F1 22 is available for Xbox One, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Check out our official review here for more details.

Patch 1.07 Notes

• Portimao has been added to Time Trial, Grand Prix, and Multiplayer modes
• Refinements to response time of throttle application for players
• Front Wing damage will now have a greater effect on handling and lap times
• Resolved an issue where tyre temperatures can be above blanket temperature when starting the formation lap
• Improved trigger feedback when using an Xbox Series controller on PC
• Improved balancing of difficulty for Practice Programmes
• Resolved graphical issue on the rear suspension of the Red Bull
• Addressed a crash when re-joining a Two Player Career after disconnecting
• Times under 1:27:000 for Abu Dhabi can now be posted on Time Trial leaderboard
• Resolved an issue where Time Trial times could be posted on the wet leaderboard whilst driving in dry conditions
• Addressed an issue where players could get stuck in the super license after adding a trophy
• Corrected level of detail Supercar interiors in cockpit camera
• General Stability Improvements
• Various Minor Fixes

In addition to the fixes above, the development team believes it has identified the issue regarding AI speed gains on the straights. Changes to throttle application in this patch will help, and the team is working to bring parity to AI and player car performance. We will update you as soon as we have more news.

The footage in the video was captured using Lewis Hamilton in this year’s W13 car.

“We know our players love the thrill of competing on more circuits, and they don’t get much better than Portimao,” said senior creative director Lee Mather. “Portimao is highly revered with a proud history, and our players will love the challenge of taking the 2022-designed cars onto the hallowed circuit for the first time.”

Codemasters has also revealed that September 12 will see the release of China’s Shanghai International Circuit.

F1 22 recently got its 1.05 update, which brought with it a bunch of bug fixes, along with general stability improvements. ICE wear rate when downshifting, for example, has been reduced and made generally less punishing.

F1 22 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The game is also available to play using VR. For more details, check out our review.

That means FromSoftware and Bandai Namco’s seminal open world RPG has topped all but one month’s charts since its launch (with LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga taking the top spot in April). Not only does it remain the best-selling game of the year in the US so far, it’s also among the top 10 best-selling games in the US of all time.

There’s other interesting placements in the top 10 as well. Mario Strikers: Battle League debuts at No. 3, while F1 22 comes in at No. 12. Overwatch has jumped back into the top 20 for the first time in nearly three years, coming in straight at No. 5, thanks to the recent launch of Overwatch 2’s beta. Monster Hunter Rise, meanwhile, climbed up to No. 13 thanks to the recent launch of its expansion, Sunbreak.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake has also seen a massive jump, going from No. 159 straight to No. 9. That’s thanks to the recent Final Fantasy 7 25th anniversary celebration, with the remake breaking into the top 20 for the first time since May of 2020.

On the hardware front the PS5 topped proceedings in terms of revenue generated (enjoying a double-digit percentage growth year-over-year), and the Nintendo Switch did so in terms of units sold. Both consoles also hold those positions for 2022 as a whole.

You can get more tidbits and data for June 2022 sales in the United States in Mat Piscatella’s tweets below.

https://twitter.com/MatPiscatella/status/1547927740325605378

https://twitter.com/MatPiscatella/status/1547927947524259843

https://twitter.com/MatPiscatella/status/1547928077719650305

https://twitter.com/MatPiscatella/status/1547928153678483458

https://twitter.com/MatPiscatella/status/1547928182795358211

https://twitter.com/MatPiscatella/status/1547928356238176256

On the podium, characters should now appear correctly. Hopefully, this means any bugs that caused skin tones to be replaced by the background and hair to go missing have been fixed. An issue which caused the MyTeam team badge to appear corrupted after a race weekend has also been addressed. Furthermore, engine supplier durability ratings in MyTeam have been updated (which won’t affect ongoing Careers).

Check out the full list of changes and fixes below. It’s also worth noting that Thrustmaster released a firmware update which should several issues from using their peripherals in F1 22. For more details on the game itself, read our official review here.

Patch notes v1.05

General

• ICE wear rate reduced to be less punishing when aggressively downshifting or over-revving.
• Resolved incorrect collision at Jeddah turn 1.
• Virtual rear mirror visibility setting will now apply correctly.
• Characters on the podium will now appear correctly.
• HUD elements will now appear correctly in split-screen races.
• Addressed an issue where the team badge could appear corrupted after a race weekend in MyTeam.
• Loyalty pack items will now correctly appear in users’ inventory.
• Addressed an issue where using Fanatec Load Cell pedals would result in reduced frame rate.
• Updated MyTeam engine supplier durability ratings (will not affect existing careers).
• Updated fuel amount for Bahrain F1® Sprint events.
• Rain no longer appears within the car in supercar replays.
• Addressed an issue where the race engineer would note a component issue and then immediately state it was resolved.
• Adaptive triggers now have the correct resistance on PC.
• Addressed an issue where AI drivers on flying laps could brake to not pass yielding vehicles.
• Addressed an issue when retiring from Qualifying 1 or 2 despite having a time to move to the next session, would transition to the race.
• Resolved a crash that could occur when joining an in-progress Social Play lobby.
• Sponsors can now be correctly applied to the Player Car.
• General Stability Improvements.
• Various minor fixes.

Online

• Addressed a crash when entering a multiplayer lobby in progress.
• Addressed an issue where the starting grid option could not be modified in multiplayer lobbies.

VR

• Improved performance when companion screen is set to full screen.
• Addressed involuntary head movement when braking or accelerating.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, meanwhile, moves up to the fourth place. Among the new debuts this week is KLONOA: Phantasy Reverie Series which placed fifth. The majority of its sales were on Nintendo Switch at 52 percent, followed by 33 percent on the PS5. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga has dropped from fourth to seventh place while Pokemon Legends: Arceus remains steady in eighth place.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Minecraft (Switch Edition) swap places, ranking in ninth and tenth place respectively. As for other new titles, AI: The Somnium Files – nirvanA Initiative debuted in 28th place. Check out the full top ten for the week below.

Codemasters’ racing sim title is the only new release in the charts for this week. Horizon Forbidden West, which occupied second place in the charts last week, has retained its position, and it is followed in third place by Nintendo Switch Sports, which climbs up from No. 6, while LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga comes in at No. 4, swapping places with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at No. 5. 

Other games in the top 10 are familiar names in these weekly charts. FIFA 22 occupies sixth place, while fellow (but very different) football game Mario Strikers: Battle League comes in at No. 7. Pokemon Legends: Arceus is in at No. 8, while Minecraft for the Switch at No. 9 and Animal Crossing: New Horizons at No. 10 round out the charts. 

You can check out the full top 10 for the week ending July 2 below.